Poker
by gina grey
Summary: In which the winner takes all. ExT.


Her eyes regard him over the rim of her mug. She raises a perfectly arched brow as he tosses a few tokens almost lazily into the growing pile at the centre of the floor.

She pretends to ponder as she adds two green tokens of her own.

Cautiously, Rika joins in.

Chiharu flips open a card. The queen of spades.

Hmm. Tomoyo considers the cards in her hand. A fantastic hand, but the question is, is it better than what the others have? Or perhaps more accurately: is it better than what _he_ has? The smug bastard has not deigned to look at his cards again, and is simply observing her. "Check."

Allowing just a bit of distress to escape her expression, she sets her mug down, lets her fingers drum against the floor. Fake tells. "Check."

Rika raises. Another two dollars to remain in the game.

"Okay," Tomoyo sighs, adding to the pot.

"I… fold," Eriol says with a smile.

The others may take this as a sign of weakness, but he's smirking, and she knows it's because he's caught on to her game, and doesn't want to reveal his hand.

"Everyone open," Chiharu commands.

Tomoyo's smile widens as Rika reveals her hand. Just as she'd thought. She flips over her own pocket kings.

Rika, to her credit, looks merely resigned, but Sakura looks properly shocked. "But Tomoyo-chan, I thought…"

"Watch and learn, Sakura-chan, watch and learn." She shoots Rika a semi-apologetic look as she gathers the pile of tokens to join her own towering stacks, meeting Eriol's eyes as she does so. It looks like it'll soon be down to the two of them. She runs a tongue along the rim of her mug, noting with interest the shiver he struggles to suppress.

No one had expected this when Takashi-kun had innocently suggested a game of poker. They agreed to play, not for money, but for the privilege of the nicest, largest room in the ski lodge they had rented for the week – wall-to-ceiling French windows with a breathtaking view of the slopes, a large, luxurious bed and an opulent ensuite bathroom complete with its own Jacuzzi.

"My turn to deal. Who's still in?" Tomoyo asks, eyeing the piles of tokens (or lack thereof) in front of her friends. Li and Sakura had dropped out at an early stage. The others' piles of tokens are slowly but surely dwindling.

"Blinds, please," Tomoyo adds briskly. For all that she's one of the sweetest, most polite girls they know, her friends can see how she's related to Daidouji Sonomi.

"We should have just drawn lots and been done with it," Chiharu grumbles, shooting a dark look at her boyfriend.

"Or let one of the couples have the nice room," Rika points out sensibly.

"Now, where would be the fun in that?" Eriol asks pleasantly, earning a glare from Li.

But Tomoyo backs him up. "On this, at least, we are in complete agreement."

"I find this quite fun, Syaoran-kun," Sakura adds. "I never knew Tomoyo-chan and Eriol-kun were such pros!"

For all their years of friendship, this is their first time playing poker together. The results so far are not all that unsurprising. Sakura and Li have no talent for lying, nor for observing. Rika is too risk averse, and Naoko too plucky. Chiharu is terrible at math. Takashi has the potential to be a good player, but he evidently doesn't care enough to win. That leaves Eriol and Tomoyo, both of whom have the temperament and the brains for the game. No one can bluff like them, and no one can read others as well. The others have no instinct, no flair, for poker. One by one they drop like flies.

Takashi loses his stash going all-in with Eriol, while Eriol simultaneously doubles his. Watching the way Eriol's eyes bores into Takashi's, the way he steeples his fingers together when he is contemplating his next move, has Tomoyo unexpectedly hot under the collar.

But it is nothing compared to when they're up against each other. Then, the intensity in his eyes as he tries to discern her next move is almost unbearable to face. But she simply stares back, her eyes narrowed, refusing to give him the satisfaction of thinking she is in any way affected.

She swallows a gulp as he takes a swig of his drink and casually unbuttons the top two buttons of his light blue button down shirt. She wonders if he's being deliberately distracting. "Hiiragizawa," she says crisply, "This isn't strip poker."

"Yes, Hiiragizawa, no one wants to see that," Li adds with a frown.

"Why, are you feeling hot and bothered?" Eriol replies with a grin.

She tries not to let herself get sucked in by those dark eyes that are currently locked on hers, a challenging glint in them. "We should be the ones asking you that. Can't take the heat?"

"On the contrary; I welcome it. I call your five dollars and raise you another five."

She pointedly ignores him as he goes on to unbutton the cuffs of his shirt and roll up his sleeves. She reflects that he has very nice forearms indeed. She wrenches her gaze away from where it had been following his fingers, and tries to concentrate on the game.

As it turns out, Eriol is a fan of trash talking when playing poker. "Daidouji, I'm sure some of us would like to get to bed sometime before midnight. I, for one, would like to take a soak in my Jacuzzi before that. Please decide, and soon please, if you want to call."

The others watch on, fearful for their lives as the tension mounts. While losing none of her pleasant smile, Tomoyo looks like she might murder him in his sleep. Which would be convenient for her, as they are all sleeping under the same roof for the next one week.

Soon, the only ones left in the game are Eriol, Tomoyo and Naoko, but it's evident who the ones in control are. Naoko's pile of tokens is pitifully small compared to the fortresses in front of Eriol and Tomoyo.

At some point, Li tells them tiredly, "We're going to sleep first; we know which room we're _not_ getting."

Takashi yawns. "And I could really use a shower right now. See ya'll at breakfast." He loops an arm around Chiharu's shoulders and turns to Sakura and Li. "Which room are you guys taking?"

Neither Eriol nor Tomoyo pay any attention to them.

"I don't know how you two can still focus," Li mutters, slinking away.

Tomoyo manages a "Goodnight!" as Sakura wishes her goodnight and goes off with Li.

After Naoko loses the few coins she had remaining, she stays to watch Eriol and Tomoyo play for a bit, but at eleven she begs off to call her boyfriend.

They play on, evenly matched. Though it is just the two of them left, they are no less competitive. In fact, the room seems even more heated.

She removes her cashmere sweater and stretches to work out the kinks in her back from sitting down for too long. She smirks when she catches him staring. "Like what you see?"

"You know I do," he retorts, playing along without missing a beat. "All right, I'll call." He takes a few tokens from his stack and pushes it forward.

As it nears midnight, she notices that he seems slightly impatient. She can tell he is losing focus.

"Shall we end it? One last game, to decide."

He readily agrees, and deals.

A jack on the river. Her heart skips a beat.

They reveal their hands.

"I win!" she says with a triumphant grin.

"Congratulations," he says graciously. "Bedtime then. Finally."

"It's been a long day," she agrees. "That Jacuzzi is mine now, you know," she can't resist adding.

He carries their bags down the hallway towards where both rooms are situated, opposite each other.

"I didn't know you played poker."

"Learned it at the casinos in Paris. Where did you learn?"

"The same, actually, but several decades earlier, through Clow."

She rolls her eyes. "Figures."

They peer into the non-winner's room. It's got a queen-sized bed, curtained windows, and a vanity. It's decent, but not luxurious.

Across the hallway is the winner's room, which is at least three times the size of the others and evidently decked out for luxury. They stand in the doorway, admiring it for a moment.

"You know, Tomoyo-san, this should have been my room."

"Now, now, you know what they say about coveting your neighbour's property."

"But you're not my neighbor, you're—"

"The winner, fair and square."

"About that." He pauses, stepping in to deposit her bags. "You know, I let you win."

She eyes him suspiciously. "Did you, really?"

"Yes," he nods earnestly. "I didn't want you to feel too badly, so I rigged the last game. Plus, it was getting late and I wanted it to end."

"Good try," Tomoyo says, trying to step around him to enter the room, but he grasps her waist and pulls her towards him. "What—" she begins, but her words are cut off as he shuts the door behind them and slams her up against it, casting a quick silencing spell.

"I've been wanting to do this all day," he murmurs against her lips, his breath ragged. "How did we think we could stay away for a week?"

She would like to reply, but her mouth is otherwise occupied. He groans as her fingers thread through his hair.

At some point they break off for air.

"If this is a ploy to get the room—"

"But you'll let me stay with you, won't you, Tomoyo?" His mouth traces the shell of her ear, feeling her shiver.

"After all that taunting?" She tries to sniff haughtily but manages only a breathy sigh as his lips trail a familiar line down her neck. "You'll have to work harder to convince me, I think."

She feels a smirk against her skin, his hands reaching down to support her as she wraps both legs around his waist and they stumble to the sofa. Her own hands are busy with the buttons of his shirt.

Afterwards, sprawled on the large sofa—

"Now that we've established we can't stay away for a whole week, how do you plan on keeping it from them?"

"Our friends," he says wryly, "are not the most observant people, as you would note from this evening." She's not sure if he's referring to their lack of skill at poker or at discerning what lies beneath their banter. "But—" he pauses, considering. "Is there still a need to?"

Looking at him out of the corner of her eye – "Hmm. Perhaps not. It's probably about time they find out anyway."

He turns to wrap an arm around her from behind, burying his face into her hair. "I'm fine if you are." Then he smirks. "I can't wait to see the look on Li's face. Did you bring your video camera?"

"Do I ever not?" She sighs and leans into him as she feels him press kisses into the back of her neck. He can be _very_ demanding sometimes. She suddenly grins as she remembers something. "Now, how about that Jacuzzi?"


End file.
